Conversations at the End of the World
by Shadow Wasserson
Summary: Genocide after Genocide, and only one thing changes anymore.


A/N: Never been mine.

* * *

 **Conversations At the End of the World**

"Oh, you thought that was you?" The Fallen Child's grin grows wider. "You thought that you were getting stronger, all by yourself?"

You'd thought that it was the LV making you stronger. That's what Sans had-

"LOVE is your willingness to kill," the Child explains. "It toughens the soul, but how could that make a human physically stronger? It's only been a day. That kind of magic might work for a monster, but not a human."

Then why...?

"Oh." The Child's grin is grotesquely wide. "Oh dear! Did you still think you were human? Humans aren't made tougher by LOVE. Humans can't reset time. Humans have souls that _last_. Frisk, you haven't been fully human since you fell down here."

Black eyes, rotten mouth.

 _"I've been keeping you alive. I'm a part of you. You're as much me as you are you."_

Closer, wider, like you are going to be devoured.

 _ **"So what makes you think you're the one in control?"**_

* * *

"Hm? Demon...?" The Child's expression is unwavering. "It's an apt descriptor. What else do you call a thing that returns from death, that must be summoned, that makes deals for souls, that is trapped in the underworld?"

The Child is not a _thing_.

"Semantics only. You will understand soon enough." The Child plays idly with the heart locket. It beats against your shared fingers. "Perhaps you will even join me, in time."

Neither of you are things.

"No. We are the _only_ things." The Child smiles, skin peeling back, shriveling, rotting.

 _ **"That's a choice you made long ago."**_

* * *

"Perhaps you enjoy this? Creation and destruction, over and over. That's a perverted kind of sentimentality, is it not?" The Child looks disinterested, testing the edge of the Real Knife against their fingers. They look up at you, almost pityingly. "Are you hoping something will change? It never will."

The Child changes. The Child is the only thing that changes.

"Ah. You are doing this to see me? I do remember, true, but we will only encounter the same dilemma over and over. Erase? Or do not?"

We will be together, then. Destroying and resetting, forever.

"Yes. As I said. We will stay here, in the abyss." The eyes sink, darken, liquify. " _ **For all eternity**_."

* * *

There were six human souls, before you arrived. Why choose you?

"I told you. It was your Determination. Surely you noticed, we both have red souls."

So, if the Child had possessed anyone else, they would not have been able to reset?

"Perhaps not. I did not wake for them, so could not try. But it is quite possible that Asriel could have overcome the determination of a soul that is not red." The Child examines their nails, and sighs. "Also, you were dying."

Dying?

"You have already learned that human souls can heal each other. I mended your soul after you fell, as we merged." The Child's mouth becomes a putrid hole. _ **"That lets me destroy it, too."**_

You are no longer even slightly surprised, and do not even bother to brace for the blow.

* * *

"Doesn't this bore you?" The Child flips through the Notebook with a glazed expression. "I am beginning to think that perhaps you are not very smart."

What does the Child want from you?

"That depends, partner, on what _you_ want. You keep returning to the world that you destroyed, only to destroy it again. That is what I am talking about. It's a feeling that I don't really understand."

There's nothing more in this world, for you. Nothing real but the Child. But at the same time, staying in this nothingness holds little appeal.

"I see. Well, I feel obligated to suggest that you try something else."

You aren't sure what that would be. Have the monsters take your soul? But they were never able to, because the Child always shattered it. That's right, isn't it?

"I see I must be more blunt." The Child tucks the Notebook under one arm. "You told her that you had somewhere to be, correct?" The Child's voice drops to a whisper, barely audible above the wind. "What do you think would have happened, if you had stayed?"

You consider this. But, thinking of Toriel brings up another question. How does the Child end the world like this, without having taken a monsters' living soul?

"That's my secret, Frisk."

You don't think the Child is actually ending the world. They are not a god, and this is not within the power of Determination.

"We're over LV 20. That's enough for me to do anything I like."

You pause, you listen. You can't hear anything but the howling of wind, can't see anything but the Child, can feel nothing but your own soul beating in the Child's hands. All very familiar. A just End.

But it is not the same as death. You are well aware of the difference. This is not death. This is simply darkness...

So the Child hasn't killed you... and perhaps they didn't destroy the world, either. You are fairly certain of it, now. You've done this several times, after all.

"You think I would lie to you, partner?" The Child's eyes are still bright. Not black, nor empty and rotted out.

You cannot move, or speak, or see. But this is exactly like it was before, isn't it? You reset when you die. The Child hasn't killed the world. You are merely trapped in your own head.

The Child lunges for you, not bothering to twist their features first.

 **Nine. Nine. Nine. Nine. Nine.**

* * *

You sit by Asriel's broken corpse and wait for the Child to appear. You want an explanation. What are they looking for?

"I told you, long ago. Power." The Child meets you gaze. "What about you?"

You're not sure, anymore. You want something... new.

The Child smiles. "We are new. There's never been another creature like you and I. And there never will be again." The Child lifts your soul up so you can see it.

They're hard to see but you can almost make out the streaks, lines where the Child's soul has seeped into yours, holding it together like hot glue. Red on red. Close up like this, you think it's prettier than the other children's souls.

You wonder how the Child knows that there will never be another like them.

"Because, we are the last. No one else will be coming after us. Neither of us seem willing to let this end, and so we will loop, forever. No more souls will become trapped in this hell. No more souls will become _**demons**_."

By this time, you can look into their expression without fear, even when you die.

* * *

What more power is there, to have? You have hunted down and killed every monster you can. There simply aren't any more available. You could, you suppose, try to track down Alphys and her refugees, or find a way to kill Burgerpants hiding behind his counter. But it would be pointless; your LV is as high as it can go.

"This world is rotten," says the Child, for the seventh time. "Let's erase it and make a new one."

Isn't that what they do anyway, you wonder? Rip apart reality and sink into oblivion? Unless they're admitting that no, it's really is just a trick of sensory deprivation?

The Child crosses their arms and sighs in irritation. "Not just the Underground. This whole filthy world needs to go. There's nothing worthwhile in it, and I know you agree. I know you inside and out, partner."

Because nothing and no one is real.

"No one but us."

You know.

"Then **_why not erase_**?"

* * *

Why doesn't the Child ever take Toriel's soul, if they want to escape so badly?

The Child looks surprised by your question. "You mean early on? You're the one who never takes it. I should ask _you_ that question."

The first time, you didn't take Toriel's soul because you assumed you could take Asgore's. And after that, you thought you no longer had jurisprudence over what the soul did or didn't absorb, seeing as it now belonged to the Child. Or would they have allowed you to do it anyway?

The Child looks away, and says nothing.

The Child won't tell you? But you're partners, aren't you?

The Child grins. "I wouldn't have expected you to pick up manipulation. But then, I suppose you would be a fool not to, by now." They look at you, through you. Then, "I have experiences you do not. I know what it is like to have your soul absorbed. You are conscious, and while you can move, you can't win should it come to a battle of will. And no, before you ask, what I have done with your soul is not the same."

...They don't want Toriel to go through that experience. But, you thought they didn't care about anyone anymore?

The Child smiles, but their eyes are almost sad. "I never said that."

So you two are at an impasse. They have all the power, but they still need you to play along, to find freedom or oblivion.

"That is fine. I can wait forever, if I must."

You remember Sans saying something similar.

"He did. And here we are, still."

Why don't they just do it themself?

The Child laughs, but for the first time, the sound is not cruel . "I've never been terribly good at playing nice. Not like you. Despite everything, you're still you, Frisk."

You are both quiet for some time, after that.

You've been cruel and kind so many times, to so many people. But only one person has received from you nothing but pain.

So, this time, you don't give the Child a chance to kill you. Instead, you lay down at their feet, and let yourself slip away.

* * *

Your hands are clean, your LV is one. You stand on top of a mountain and you tell Toriel you want to stay with her.

On the surface, you lay down in Asriel's old bed, and you sleep while the Child paints the town **r e d**.


End file.
